Part 4 (1/2)

And One, long since a pillar of the Court, As mud between the beams thereof is wrought; And One who wrote on phosphates for the crops Is subject-matter of his own Report.

These be the glorious ends whereto we pa.s.s-- Let Him who Is, go call on Him who Was; And He shall see the mallie steals the slab For currie-grinder, and for goats the gra.s.s.

A breath of wind, a Border bullet's flight, A draught of water, or a horse's fright-- The droning of the fat Sheristadar Ceases, the punkah stops, and falls the night

For you or Me. Do those who live decline The step that offers, or their work resign?

Trust me, Today's Most Indispensables, Five hundred men can take your place or mine.

BALLADS AND BARRACK-ROOM BALLADS

BALLADS

THE BALLAD OF FISHER'S BOARDING-HOUSE

That night, when through the mooring-chains The wide-eyed corpse rolled free, To blunder down by Garden Reach And rot at Kedgeree, The tale the Hughli told the shoal The lean shoal told to me.

'T was Fultah Fisher's boarding-house, Where sailor-men reside, And there were men of all the ports From Mississip to Clyde, And regally they spat and smoked, And fearsomely they lied.

They lied about the purple Sea That gave them scanty bread, They lied about the Earth beneath, The Heavens overhead, For they had looked too often on Black rum when that was red.

They told their tales of wreck and wrong, Of shame and l.u.s.t and fraud, They backed their toughest statements with The Brimstone of the Lord, And crackling oaths went to and fro Across the fist-banged board.

And there was Hans the blue-eyed Dane, Bull-throated, bare of arm, Who carried on his hairy chest The maid Ultruda's charm-- The little silver crucifix That keeps a man from harm.

And there was Jake Without-the-Ears, And Pamba the Malay, And Carboy Gin the Guinea cook, And Luz from Vigo Bay, And Honest Jack who sold them slops And harvested their pay.

And there was Salem Hardieker, A lean Bostonian he-- Russ, German, English, Halfbreed, Finn, Yank, Dane, and Portuguee, At Fultah Fisher's boarding-house They rested from the sea.

Now Anne of Austria shared their drinks, Collinga knew her fame, From Tarnau in Galicia To Juan Bazaar she came, To eat the bread of infamy And take the wage of shame.

She held a dozen men to heel-- Rich spoil of war was hers, In hose and gown and ring and chain, From twenty mariners, And, by Port Law, that week, men called her Salem Hardieker's.

But seamen learnt--what landsmen know-- That neither gifts nor gain Can hold a winking Light o' Love Or Fancy's flight restrain, When Anne of Austria rolled her eyes On Hans the blue-eyed Dane.

Since Life is strife, and strife means knife, From Howrah to the Bay, And he may die before the dawn Who liquored out the day, In Fultah Fisher's boarding-house We woo while yet we may.

But cold was Hans the blue-eyed Dane, Bull-throated, bare of arm, And laughter shook the chest beneath The maid Ultruda's charm-- The little silver crucifix That keeps a man from harm.

”You speak to Salem Hardieker; ”You was his girl, I know.

”I s.h.i.+p mineselfs tomorrow, see, ”Und round the Skaw we go, ”South, down the Cattegat, by Hjelm, ”To Besser in Saro.”

When love rejected turns to hate, All ill betide the man.

”You speak to Salem Hardieker”-- She spoke as woman can.

A scream--a sob--”He called me--names!”